The BBC Does Swords, Samurai And Cinema

[Mulboyne]

The BBC has broadcast a couple of shows on Japan recently and posted some short clips on their website. The "Sam-you-rai" clips feature Andrew Graham-Dixon (it is his picture in the thread about banning Japanese swords) while the cinema interviews are conducted by Jonathan Ross (above).

The Sword Master: Andrew meets samurai sword maker Yoshindo Yoshihara

Samurai Shopping: How to buy a sword at the "samurai department store"

Spirit of the Samurai: Andrew seeks samurai serenity at the Temple of the Peaceful Dragon

If you click on any of those links, you'll see that the BBC player menu also features the "Asian Invasion" clips. Episode One features an interview with Ryuhei Kitamura. The interviewer, Ross, hosts the BBC's main film review programme. He wrote in the Guardian about making the series.
[t]japan[/t] [t]tokyo[/t] [t]bbc[/t] [t]swords[/t] [t]samurai[/t] [t]ross[/t] [t]jonathanross[/t] [t]cinema[/t] [t]movies[/t] [t]films[/t]

[Mulboyne]

The BBC is showing another series of Japanorama with Jonathan Ross. There is a short video clip on the site and a photo gallery.

The episode titles are Kakoii, Otaku, Zoku, Owarai, Bushido, Kawaii and there are brief descriptions of each one on the site.

Ross isn't to everyone's taste as a presenter. He is one of the most highly paid men in British TV, though, so the BBC tends to throw resources at his programmes and that means he gets good quality guests. He is a long-time manga and anime fan with a genuine affection for Japan which tends to make the "wacky Japanese" angle a bit more bearable.

[Mulboyne]

I caught the tail-end of the second Japanorama last night. They had a short feature on girl group AKB48 who perform regularly at a stage on the 8th floor of the Akihabara Donki. (there's a short video of the group on that page). The audience was a bit scary but at 2,000 yen a ticket (1,000 for girls) it seems like a relatively cheap way to show some visitors a taste of Akihabara otaku if you are bored with maid cafes.

[Mulboyne]

There are some clips from this season's Japanorama on YouTube:

Ross meets Hard Gay

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Japanese Finger Phone. I like the fact that the BBC provides subtitles for the Docomo guy's English.

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These clips and others from older shows here

[Mulboyne]

Japanorama on [I]Super Dolfie dolls:[/I]

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...on Bathing Ape:

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...Gloomy Bear (still images with audio):

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...and Chiaki Kuriyama

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[Mulboyne]

Season Three of Japanorama is on the way. Episode summaries here.

[TFG]

3 words can describe this stuff perfectly.
Utter:D Fucking Rubbish!:D

[Mulboyne]

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[Umbrelladown]

the air sex has to be one of the funniest things I've seen all week

If it's rubbish, then it's great entertaing rubbish. I can't wait till someone uploads the new ones from series 3. Keep em coming!

The one on otaku was up, but taken down before i got a chance to see it. I especailly want to see the one on kawaii, and the ones from the new series on j-art (reason why i have giant robot magazines going back three years) =), legends , and want to see what they have to say about yamanba.

[Umbrelladown]

[Mulboyne]

Someone has posted a Japanorama episode from season one called "Swords, Samurai and Ninja".

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[Mulboyne]

Season Three Episode One: Bosozoku, Drift racing, Electric Eel Shock, Trucking, Afro Samurai, Yayoi Kusama.

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[Edit] Also. some clips from Season Three Episode One - J-Art (Pop Art)

Takashi Murakami

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Keiichi Tanaami

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Urban Vinyl

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Yoshimoto Nara

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